McCAFFERY: Weekend sweep brings Phillies back from brink

The Phillies are in Cleveland, Charlie Manuel included. Ruben Amaro is still in charge, Cole Hamels no longer winless, Ryan Howard no longer scuffling. Carlos Ruiz is the catcher.

That's the way it was supposed to be, how it was paid to be, how they all think it will continue to be. That's what happened with a weekend sweep in New York. And no one will ever know what would have happened had it been the Mets doing all that winning.

On NFL draft weekend, the Phillies had to have been on the clock. They'd just lost three straight to Pittsburgh, in Citizens Bank Park, where the empty seats were beginning to match the empty promises. They looked old, tired, inept.

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Had they left Citi Field at 9-17 instead of 12-14, there were going to be rampaging demands for changes, big changes, franchise-defining changes. They may or may not have been immediately met. But believe this: There was going to be a fire-the-manager media vigil in Cleveland. There just was. It's how it works.

Instead ... calm.

That's how thin the line between crisis and satisfaction is in baseball. That's how delicate everything is in a game Manuel has been around for 51 years, a point he was quick to make during the weekend standings correction.

"People have never really talked too much about the luck that's involved in the game," Manuel said. "The more you watch baseball, you'll come to the conclusion that you can not put a percentage on luck. There are a lot of things that can happen in the game that happen by inches. A lot of times, when it gets down to it, it's inches. That's what baseball is.

"When you're not playing well, a lot of times you're not getting those breaks."

The Phillies have been in a struggle to remain above average ever since losing in the first round of the 2011 playoffs. They have had injuries, increasing age, some lousy personnel choices. But rarely, if at all, had the manager retreated to the bad-breaks defense. But that's what had gotten him through every professional disappointment in those 51 years, the Phillies' 9-14 start included. He'd been convinced that everything would U-turn to where it belonged.

One way or another, his hypothesis will be proven this season. Either the Phillies' many assembled stars of their era will perform to their career standards, or the rebuilding will begin. Yet that's what made the series in New York so vital: There was plenty in it to suggest that the Phillies are still dangerous.

Howard had three hits, seven RBIs and a home run. Sunday, his two-run double off the center field wall broke a 1-1 tie and defined a weekend in which he hit just about everything hard.

"The power stroke has always been there," he said. "You just can't control where the ball goes sometimes."

Inches, as Manuel said.

Even with the sweep, the Phillies are 5-11 in games started by Hamels, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay. But that stat didn't stagger Manuel, either.

"Other teams are going to pay for that," he said. "Because they are going to win."

That is his theory, and he has plenty of company. And he could be proven right. For the nearly $70 million they are making this season, Hamels, Lee and Halladay should win. But they will need help. They will never succeed if Howard is not a mid-lineup presence. They won't win if Ben Revere doesn't supply offense. They will be out of the race by Fireworks Night if the middle of their bullpen sags.

But Howard is hot, the pitching looks strong, Ruiz has returned from a 25-day suspension, Delmon Young is headed back from an ankle injury, Domonic Brown is contributing. Even John Mayberry had a homer and a double over the weekend, and he could give the Phils a useful centerfielder should Revere continue to slump.

So there are the Phillies, in Cleveland. They are there for baseball, not for a fire-the-manager watch.

One weekend.

One big difference.

"That's baseball," Charlie Manuel said, as it was unfolding. "That's the way it goes sometimes. That's what it is all about."